Sing Me to Sleep
by dare-to-dream-xx
Summary: The guilt from Shauna's death was eating Aria alive-but they had bigger problems ahead of them. A is back, and worse than ever. How will the liars handle this? And will Aria be able to push through her pain to help her friends find and defeat this new enemy? [SHORT HIATUS - I have another idea for a story I'd really like to work on, so I'll get back to this one soon.]
1. Pain

"I don't know how I'm going to get through this." Aria repeated this to herself over and over as she lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, tears streaming down the sides of her face. She hadn't moved from her bed in almost three days. Her phone was on the floor, dead, as it has been for the last eight hours. There was no one she wanted to hear from; no one who could comfort her. Aria felt she didn't deserve comfort. Not after what she did.

Her friends kept telling her Shauna deserved to die. She was going to kill them all if she didn't do what she did. But somehow, Aria couldn't convince herself of that. No matter what horrible, disgusting things Shanua did to not only her, but also to her friends, she couldn't seem to bring herself to think she deserved it. She knew she'd never be able to forgive herself. She kept picturing Shauna's body lying in that coffin. She kept seeing everyone around the casket, crying and mourning the loss of the young life. The life Aria had stolen. The torment was literally eating her alive. She wanted to turn herself in; tell the police that _she_, Aria Montgomery, was responsible for the murder of Shauna. That fateful night in New York, Aria acted on a whim. She saw her four best friends at gunpoint, grabbed the shotgun, and hit Shauna. The blow knocked her off the stage, and the impact from hitting the hard floor killed her almost instantly. Aria remembered staring down at the body, feeling completely numb. Her body was shaking, and her breating became more rapid. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the body of the seventeen year old girl lying on the floor. She knew, at that moment, nothing would ever be the same.

Aria sat up slowly, looking around her bedroom. She hadn't eaten in a few days, and her stomach was killing her. Her hair was ratty and knotted, but she had no motivation. To brush her hair, to eat, anything... She just wanted to lay in her bed and be depressed. She was sure there had to be a way to deal with this pain she was feeling - the suffering, the torment, the constant guilt eating away at the pit of her stomach. She couldn't do it. She needed some sort of outlet. She couldn't drink, alcohol made her sick. Drugs? Never her thing. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to think.

She got out of her bed, walking slowly toward the door. She opened it and walked down the hallway, toward the staircase. Her dad was out of town and Mike was out, so she had the house to herself. She wanted to go to her moms, but she knew Ella could always tell when something was wrong with her. She went into the kitchen, grabbing a pen and paper, leaving Mike a note. 'Going for a walk, back later. Aria.'

She went back into her room, changing her clothes quickly and throwing her hair into a bun. She grabbed her bag and walked out the door, and started off down the street. With no idea where she was going, her only objective being to clear her head, she headed down the road toward downtown Rosewood. She put her headphones in her ears and hit play on her iPod, turning the volume all the way up. She shied away from music that had any sort of violin tune in it. Shauna played the violin. She shook the thought out of her head; the point of the walk was to get her mind _off _of the 'Shauna situation.' The cool wind blew a stray strand of hair across her face, and her brown eyes seemed to glow in the setting sun. She pushed her sleeves up, and put her hands in her jacket pockets.

It was starting to get really dark when she reached the Brew. She stopped in to get a quick coffee, because she felt her eyes getting heavy. After she got her soy latte, she decided to rest for a few minutes, sitting on a couch and putting her bag on the floor by her feet. She took her headphones off and took a sip of her warm coffee.

"Did you hear about Shauna?" A voice said behind her. Her eyes grew wide, and her breath caught in her throat. "I heard she was murdered. They don't know who did it. But they found her body in some alley in New York. Her head was busted."

"I heard about that; I can't believe it. I wonder how Blind Jenna's reacting to this." The other voice said. Aria couldn't breathe. "Do they know who killed her?"

"They're saying she got mugged." Aria breathed a small sigh of releif. "But no one knows why she was in New York in the first place. Probably stalking Jenna."

"She was a bitch, anyway..."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She grabbed her bag and took off out the door, running into someone and dropping everything in the pricess. "Shit," She mumbled. "Sorry." She looked up and it was one of the last people she wanted to see in her condition. "Ezra..." She hadn't seen him since the night they'd slept together, the night of the explosion. She noticed some worry lines creased into his forehead.

"Aria, where the hell have you been? I've been trying to call you all day. Spencer called me looking for you; she said you haven't been at school in three days. I've been worried sick." He rambled - something he did when he was nervous. "Can we go to my apartment and talk?" He asked. Before she could say another word, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the car. Apparently there was something going on, or be wouldn't be so persistant. She didn't bother arguing, she got into the passenger seat and sat quietly while Ezra rambled on about how he was afraid she'd done something stupid to herself because of what happened. She turned him out, not really wanting to hear what he was having to say. They arrived at his apartment a few moments later, and she followed him inside, putting her bag on the ground and taking a seat on the couch. She pulled her feet up and hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. "I thought you'd... nevermind. Aria?" He said, pulling her out of her haze.

"Huh?"

"What is going on with you? I understand you're feeling guilty... but we have bigger problems than Shauna dying." Exra said rather harshly, and Aria flinched. "A is back. And worse than ever. He... or she, whatever _blew up _Toby and Jenna's house. Neither Mona nor Shauna ever did anything _that _bad. Whoever this is, has a sick, demented mind and we have to get to the-"

"I FUCKING KILLED HER, EZRA! God, why does no one understand how I feel?! I took someone's life away from them! She'll never get married, have kids, SHE WON'T EVEN GRADUATE FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL BECAUSE OF ME! All of you are tip-toeing around me and avoiding it, because you don't want me to think about it, but it's all I think about. Jenna was in my house, she cried nonstop and told me how Shauna was the only person who understood her. We took her sight, and now _I _took her only friend, Ezra. I can't get my mind off of this!" Aria took a few deep breaths to calm, herself. Exra sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. She broke down in broken, uneven sobs. Her breath grew more and more rapid until it was to the point where she couldn't breathe.

"Aria, look, you need to calm down." Ezra said. "Regaurdless of whether or not it was you who did it, the story that was released was that she was mugged. This A apparently went behind you, changed Shauna's clothes, and put her body in that alley before the police were even halfway to the theatre. You're safe. No one is going to know you were even in New York that night, much less what happened with Shauna. Like I said, we have much bigger problems."

Aria took a few deep breaths to gain her composure. And as much as she didn't want to, she knew he was right. This A was something more dangerous than they could ever imagine. "Okay... so what are we suppose-" Before she could even finish her sentence, there was a loud banging on Ezra's apartment door. They both looked at it immeditally, and Exra jumped to his feet. He looked at Aria with frightened eyes and she stood up, moving closer to him.

"No," He said sternly. "Stay here."

Aria ignored his request and followed him to the door. There was another loud banging noise, and she jumped, grabbing his arm. "Who is it?" He called. No answer. He slowly undid the lock and pulled the door open. Aria's eyes popped open and a jolt of fear shot through her body. Exra's mouth nearly dropped open. "You..." Aria muttered. "Why are you here?!"


	2. Confession

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the support and reviews! I really appreciate it. I'm kinda going into chapter two blind, so bare with me! Again thank you and enjoy! xoxo3**

**Flashback: **

_Aria walked into Spencer's house, without even bothering to knock. They had an unspoken rule between the four of them; you're always welcome in the other's house, whether they were or there or not. Knocking is not necessary. _

_She made her way up the stairs slowly, but before she reached the top, she heard a loud booming voice coming from downstairs. "DAMN IT! Why can't you shut up and listen for five seconds?!" Aria recognized Spencer's father's voice immeditally. She furrowed her eyebrows and crouched down at the top of the stairs. She didn't hear another voice, so she assumed he was on the phone. "Allison DiLaurentis was a menace to my life, I don't give a _fuck _if she's gone. But the way it's affecting MY DAUGHTERS lives-" She noticed he said daughter(s), not daughter- "is not okay with me. So you need to do something about this, Jessica."_

_Aria's jaw dropped. She didn't quite understand the conversation she'd just heard. What did Melissa have to do with this? And Allison was dead - so what exactly did he mean? Did he know about A? That was the only thing that was affecting their lives in a negative way that had anything to do with Allison. She stood from the stairs and turned and ran into Spencer's bedroom. She managed to put a smile on her face and pretend she hadn't heard any of that for Spencer's sake._

Aria stood at Ezra's door, tucked protectively behind his back. She stood face to face with Melissa Hastings. The look of shock on Aria's face must have been obvious. "Can I come in for a minute?" Melissa asked quietly. "I need to talk to the two of you." Ezra hesitated for a minute, then stepped out of the way. Aria followed suit. The three of them made their way to the couch, where Aria sat close to Ezra and Melissa sat across from them. "Okay," Melissa started. "This conversation needs to stay between the three of us. The only reason I'm telling you anything I'm about to tell you is to clear my conscious, and to protect my sister." Aria sat patiently, but the nervousness was eating away at the pit of her stomach. "Aria, do you remember the night of the ghost train?"

How could she possibly forget? The night she was locked in a box and almost killed. The thought made her shudder. "Yes, I remember."

"That's not what I wanted to happen. The box - it was only supposed to scare you. Wildon is the one who went too far and tried to shove the box of the side of the train." Melissa paused, looking at Aria apoligetically. "I was one of the Queen of Hearts." Aria knew this already; Mona had told them, but it was never confirmed. "I am _so _sorry, Aria. I needed to get that off of my chest. But that's not what I came here to tell you. I know. I know about everything. About A, and I don't just mean Mona. I mean when Toby was pretending to be A, Shauna, and I know about this new one."

This discovery shocked Aria. She always knew Melissa was shady - but she didn't know she knew everything the girls had been hiding. "Who is it? Do you know?" She asked.

"No, but I have my suspicions." Melissa almost whispered. "What I do know for sure, is this person is dangerous. More dangerous than anyone you've ever had to deal with. And now with Allison back, the game has changed. You five need to be on your guard at all times. I know I've been against you girls this whole time. It's obvious I don't like Allison, and I never will after what happened with Ian. But when my sister's involved, I need to put my selfishness aside and step up as her big sister."

"Why are you all of a sudden having a change of heart, Melissa? What's your angle here? Like you said, you obviously don't like us. You've made that _very _clear. And you can't feed me that big sister bullshit." Aria felt her anger creeping up. "You've treated Spencer like _shit _her entire life."

"I know that, Aria! You don't think I feel horrible about that?! My family is in danger. And so is yours, Hanna's, Emily's... I'm trying to help you. This A, whoever they are, isn't playing games anymore. This person is stepping up and they'll kill whoever gets in their way." Melissa stood up. "I think I should leave."

"Wait," A thought popped into Aria's head. "What happened to Allison's mom? I know you know."

Melissa's face seemed to drain of all color. "I-I can't tell you right now. But it won't be long until the truth comes out." And with that, Melissa turned and walked out the door.

Aria's breath felt like it was caught in her throat. So Melissa knew everything... who else knew? She sighed loudly, causing Ezra to look at her with a concerned expression. She was trying to process all of this. Between Shauna's death and Melissa's confessions, it was all getting to be too much for Aria. She stood up to run out the door, when everything went black. 


	3. Break Down

**AN: Thanks for all the support! Chapter 3 is gonna be a little bit darker than the last two, and probably a lot longer. Reviews are always appreciated. xoxoEm.**

_"They know what you did." The eerie voice rang in Aria's ears as she slowly opened her eyes. She glanced around frantically, trying to locate the source of the all too familiar voice. Shauna's voice. The voice that had been haunting her dreams for the past few weeks. Her breath felt like it was caught in her throat; like she couldn't breathe. "EVERYONE knows, Aria. You think you're hiding it so well, but your face says it all. The way you turn pale whenever someone brings up my name. How you can't breathe when you see the memorial pictures. You make it all too obvious. And if the guilt doesn't kill you, well, you know who will." Aria tried to figure out where she was. She looked around the room. She was sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of a white room with no doors and no windows - no way out. "This person is far mroe dangerous than you or those bitches know. I hope you're ready." _

_Aria opened her mouth to scream..._

...and shot awake. She felt a protective hand on her shoulder and looked around, trying to figure out what the hell happened. She saw Ezra looking at her with worried eyes, along with four other pairs with the same look. "Woah, Aria, it's okay." She was still in Ezra's apartment, which was for some reason she didn't remember, destroyed. Papers, files, pictures were all thrown on the floor. Her body felt extremely sore, like she'd ran a marathon, then hit by a truck. Her neck felt extremely raw and tender. What the fuck happened.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked, looking more concerned than the others. She and Ezra were the only two who knew how hard Aria was struggling with this.

Aria nodded slightly. "What happened?" She asked, and to her surprise her voice was hoarse and her throat was scratchy. It literally hurt to breathe.

"You lost your shit." Hanna said rather harshly.

"Hanna..." Spencer scolded quietly. "You... had a panic attack."

"You don't remember?" Ezra asked. Aria shook her head slightly. "After... my... sister left," he lied, obviously trying to hide Melissa's visit from Spencer. "You blacked out, I'm guessing? Started screaming, throwing stuff, and for some reason, it seemed like you were trying to rip your throat out. Scared the hell out of me. So after you passed out, I put you on the couch and called the girls to come help. I didn't know what else to do."

Aria gently touched her throat and winced. Allison grabbed a pocket mirror out of her purse and looked at her neck. It was red from the bottom of her chin almost to her chest. There were traces of dried up blood in the nail marks. Her eyes widened as she examined the rest of her face. There were huge black bags under her eyes, and her lips were raw and chapped.

"I think we need to get you some help, Aria." Emily was the first one to speak. Panic flooded through her, and she shook her head frantically. "You should have told us how bad it was getting. We just want to help you. We could call Radley-"

"No, I'm not going to Radley." Aria nearly yelled. She struggled to control her voice. "I'm not crazy. And we'd have to tell them what happened. I'm not going."

"Aria! You're not going to have a choice. What's your dad going to say when he sees your throat?" Allison yelled, getting closer to Aria's face. "That's the only place you'll be safe. A knows you killed Shauna. And whether or not it was an accident, if A notifies the police, they won't excuse you for self defense because you kept it a secret for so long. So either you go to Radley or-"

"Or what?! Run away like you did? Fake my own death? Fuck you, Allison." Aria got off of the couch and pushed past the rest of them, grabbing her bag and walking out the door. No one bothered to try to follow her. They probably knew she needed her space. She walked out of the apartment complex and down the street toward her mom's apartment. She wouldn't be able to explain in full what happened, but she knew the only person who would be able to comfort her in any sort of way was her mother. Ever since her mother had come back into the United States, she stayed in apartment near the Grille. She was back teaching at Rosewood High, and she and Zack were in the "off" phase of their "on again, off again" relationship.

She walked up the stairs and knocked on her mother's door. Ella opened the door, and the smile on her face soon turned into a look of horror as she took in her daughter's appearance. "Aria... what happened to you?" Tears lined the rims of Ella's eyes as she grabbed Aria's hand and pulled her into her apartment. "What happened to your throat?"

"I, uh, I had a rash and I kept scratching it... it got infected." Aria lied, but she knew her mother could see through every lie she'd ever told. She never said anything, but the look on Ella's face told Aria she knew something was up. The two of them sat on the couch, and Aria's breath was coming in ragged puffs. Tears kept threatening to escape, but Aria bit her lip and fought them back. She didn't need to have her mother worrying about her more than she already did. She avoided eye contact with Ella.

"Is everything okay, sweetie? I haven't heard from you in a while, and your voice kept going to voice mail... I was starting to worry. I tried calling Mike but I could never get in touch with him." Ella put a hand on Aria's face and turned it toward her, meeting her gaze. "What is it, Aria? Is it because of Allison being back?"

"Uh, yeah, it's really hard on me." Aria said quickly. "Look, I can't stay long. I'm, uh, meeting Spencer in a few minutes so we could study. I just wanted to see you, mom." She wrapped her arms around her mother, holding her tight. Her mother's warm embrace felt better than anything Aria had experienced in a long time. She missed this - she missed feeling warm and safe like she did when she was with her mother. "I love you." She said as her mother stroked the back of Aria's hair.

"I love you, too." Ella said, and Aria could tell her mother was crying. Ella knew much more than she thought she did. It wouldn't be long before the truth came to the light, and Aria knew that. Just as the thought passed her mind, Aria heard Ella's phone go off. "It's Zack... you don't wanna be around to hear this. But if you want to come spend the night after you leave Spencer's, you can. We'll stay up late and watch those old black and white movies you like." And with that, Aria left the apartment.

She still didn't want to be home, and she didn't really want to be anywhere around her friends. She wanted to be alone. But where was she going to go? Rosewood wasn't that big of a town. She decided to walk to the park. She put her headphones back in and began walking. After a few minutes, this eerie feeling started creeping into Aria's stomach. She felt like someone might have been watching her. She looked around and shook her head, gifuring she was just paranoid. She shrugged it off and continued walking. One of her favorite songs came on and she hummed quietly, trying to keep her mind off of the events of that day. For some reason, she couldn't shake that feeling. She looked behind her, thinking she was just paranoid again. But she was wrong. Black hoodie, black pants, and trailing right behind her. She started walking a little faster, and the person behind her started walking faster as well. She turned a corner, so did they. She tried going faster, but before she could, an arm wrapped around her throat. The street was completely vacant, not a single car in sight. She screamed and struggled to get loose, but whoever this was has a strong hold on her. "I know what you did. And you'll be punished." The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and it was obviously a man, but she couldn't tell who he was.

They he stabbed her. The knife went into her hip and the pain was too much for Aria's body to handle. She let out a loud yell in pain, and felt blood running down her hip and leg. He let her go and her body slammed onto the concrete, her head hitting it. Hard. The whispered words repeated in her head once more. "_You will be punished."_


End file.
